Mother dedicated to dreams of fast-track daughters

Mom’s photo album

Sisters always ready to race

Houston-area mom Janet Enders raised daughters Erica and Courtney in an environment a bit different from the average family’s. Her daughters took childhood detours from the mainstream, which landed them on a racetrack, sitting in the cockpit of the dragster.

Twenty years after entering the National Hot Rod Association Jr. Drag Racing League at age 8, older sister Erica is enjoying a successful professional career in NHRA Pro Stock racing.

Janet’s father restored cars and her family often visited the drag strip, and husband Gregg was a drag racer, so the family was tuned in to the racing scene — but the move into drag racing was young Erica’s idea. As a child she was reading car magazines and saw a small promotion about a league in which 8-to-16-year-olds could race.

Her parents agreed on allowing her to participate in Jr. Drag Racing. A pink dragster was built for the 8-year-old and “she literally took off,” Janet said. Her sister, who was three years younger, joined the sport later, and both were successful.

“I was never nervous about them being in the car,” Janet said. “First of all, they were only going to go about 40 mph; they had helmets; they wore five-point harnesses; they had clothing in case the car caught on fire; and we were never more than a few feet away from them.”

There were other mothers during those early years who didn’t understand how parents could let young girls race, Janet said, but if it would be a son racing that would be different.

“One woman said to me, `What did you do, fall and hit your head,’ ” she said.

Janet would point out that her children never were injured racing, but it was common to see girls get concussions playing volleyball.

“Just like any good parent, you want your kids to go after their dreams and what they’re interested in,” she said, “and Erica was always interested in that.”

While there was no shortages of Barbies and other girl toys around, Erica liked to be in the garage helping out, and entertained herself sitting on a bench sorting out nuts and bolts.

With time, acceptance of the drag-racing Enders sister grew, and they gained ardent fans after their childhood successes on the track inspired the 2003 Disney TV movie “Right on Track.”

The girls basically had two lives, as students and race-car drivers, Janet said, and drag racing often interfered with their school activities.

“We used to call it the `Pennzoil Flu’ — I’d call the school and used to say, We’re picking up our daughters early today, they’re going to have a case of the Pennzoil Flu, and they would laugh because they knew we were traveling to a car race.”

The sisters’ paths started to run differently when Courtney, who was an athlete, focused on volleyball and Erica remained dedicated to drag racing. Today, Courtney heads up Erica’s racing marketing.

“Now that they’re grown and their own women, I think that a wise mother needs to stand back and allow them to find their own way,” Janet said. “Let them fly solo and just be proud of them of how they were raised.”